China’s
milk scandal worsened again Sunday as the government announced that the number
of infants hospitalized after consuming contaminated baby formula had risen to
nearly 13,000, more than double the previous tally.

The Ministry of Health, which posted the new figures on its
Web site, traced most cases to tainted formula produced by the Sanlu Group, the giant dairy producer whose formula has
been recalled because of contamination from an industrial additive, melamine.

Across the country, the ministry reported, 53,000 infants
have suffered some degree of illness from melamine-contaminated dairy products.
Roughly 40,000 of them were examined and “recovered” without being admitted to
a hospital. The other 12,892 infants were hospitalized with more serious kidney
problems. Of those, 1,579 have already recovered and been discharged.

State media have reported four infant death
from kidney problems linked to the melamine. However, the Health Ministry put
the number at three.

The bad formula has turned into a nationwide food safety
crisis since it became public less than two weeks ago that one baby had died
and a few dozen had been sickened.

Officials last week said melamine had been found in powdered
formula from 22 dairy companies. Then officials announced that traces of
melamine had also been found in samples of liquid milk, including some from the
country’s top dairy producers.

Melamine, high in nitrogen, can be used illegally to
artificially inflate protein levels in milk.

For the government, the scandal is a recurrence of food
safety concerns that arose just last year and that officials had pledged to
correct with revamped regulatory controls. Last year, thousands of pets in the United States
were sickened from food made with Chinese feed laced with melamine. At the
time, officials issued regulations banning the use of melamine in food
products.

On Sunday, state media carried reports of Prime Minister WenJiabao visiting Children’s
Hospital in Beijing.
“Don’t cry, and it will be over in minutes,” he was quoted as telling a
9-month-old girl undergoing an examination.

The Health Ministry reported that no sick infants on the
mainland had been linked to tainted liquid milk.

The scandal’s first victim beyond the mainland was reported
this weekend as Hong Kong authorities said an
infant had been hospitalized and later released after consuming tainted dairy
products from the mainland. 9-22-08